PHILIPP VIRUS

Director & Visual Artist

ABOUT

Virus Films GbR is a german film production based in Berlin/Neukoelln Founded in 1999, director Philipp Virus produced and directed many international- and national music videos of all musical genres. The main company ́s focus is the production of music videos, live DVDs, image films in cooperation with the music industry. Virus Films videos and productions are respected worldwide for an authentic and unique visual style.

Philipp Virus Biografie / Filmografie:

Philipp Virus born in 1971 in West-Berlin is a director and visual artist living and working in Berlin. Since 1993 he directed & produced over 160 music videos and a couple of short films which gained worldwide attention on numerous music stations and film festivals. Since more than a decade he worked with bands like Atari Teenage Riot, Alec Empire, Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Iggy Pop & The Stooges, K.I.Z., Kraftklub, Beatsteaks, Casper, Die Krupps and many others. The museum of modern arts New York (MoMA, N.Y.) archived his video "You ain´t nothing" Alec Empire vs. Elvis Presley for the next hundred years amongst other nineties music video directors (Chris Cunningham, Spike Jonze, Spike Lee, etc.). As a cameraman he captured claustrophobic pictures of the place where RAF terrorist Meins died for Gerd Conrad’s Starbuck-Holger Meins in 2002. Miron Zownir’s documentary about Werner Herzogs "Kaspar Hauser" actor "Bruno S. - Estrangement is death" was co-produced by Virus Films (premiered at the Berlinale-Panorama 2003). In 2015 the documentary got included in Werner Herzog's french DVD Boxset (Stroszek) with films from 1976-1982. As a guest lecturer he worked at DFFB Berlin, Merzakademie Stuttgart and ECAL in Lausanne. In 2011 Virus`s short film "The animal you hide" got nominated for the "Preis fuer junge Filmkunst" given by the Deutsche Filmakademie & Nationalgalerie fuer junge Kunst. Since January 2012 Virus relaunched Virus Films with artist Al Mir. He got awarded with a golden records for directing the music videos of Kraftklub (Universal 2012) and KIZ´s latest Album "Hurra die Welt geht unter" (Universal 2015). In 2015 Jim Jarmusch included footage of Philipp Virus in his documentary "Gimme danger" about Iggy Pop & the Stooges (release june 2016). Philipp Virus is currently finishing the production for the official Dinosaur Jr. documentary "Freakscene" and is working on his debut feature - a thriller called "Schatten / Shadows".

In 1993 -1998, Philipp Virus worked as a photographer with published photos and art-works on record covers (ATR, Alec Empire, Dinosaur Jr., Reprise, Island, Warner Brothers) and international music magazines.